#also when will we come to agree that just because something is about lesbians doesn’t mean it’s Good

[paigebueckersmommy]

maybe not enemies pt.1 - p.b

paige bueckers x fem!roomate! reader

warnings: enemies to lovers, drinking, mean paige kinda?, 1st person

a/n: i am well aware the team rooms togther but act like they don’t for this fic 🥰 also i hate this with every bone in my body.

you and paige had met briefly a few times. all you knew was you two weren’t into the same things.

it was the start of my senior year of college, and i had always taken my academics seriously, but i needed to take them more serious this year, and geting roomed with the schools biggest party animal, caused problems.

i began unpacking the suit case on my bed, waiting for my roomate to arrive. they sent an email with dorm assignments, which your roomate obviously hadn’t seen.

when i heard the door open, i snapped head. “fuck.” you heard a attractive voice say, which you didn’t wanna admit was attractive. “i’m not happy about this either.” you say making eye contact with the blonde.

“how’d you know?” paige says setting stuff down on her bed, “they sent an email.” i say looking back at my stuff.

“well, the best way to handle being roomed with the most boring person on earth, is if we agree to not talk unless it’s needed.” paige said, with an look of annoyance on her face. “agreeed, just please don’t be loud.” you say rolling your eyes, “k.”

time skip to a couple months later

you could tell paige was a little confused by your style when she mostly only ever saw you wearing hoodies, sweatpants and leggings, but tonight was diffrent.

you were standing infront of the mirror on a saturday night, putting lipgloss on. wearing a mini skirt and a mesh long sleeve, a black lacey bra underneath.

“where you going? shouldn’t you be studying or sum shit.” paige said looking you up and down from her bed. “why would it matter to you? but for your infortntion i’m going to a bar with my friends.” i say, looking back at her.

“oh my god!!! she has friends everyone!!” paige says acting suprised, not very good acting. “just because i care about my academics more than you doesn’t make me a nerd.”

“oh please, admit you’re just stating and don’t have any friends.” paige says cocking her head, when jsut then you heard a knock on your door. you opened it, your friends head peaking thru the door. “you almost rea- hey. wanna come?” your friend says, making eye contact with paige mid sentence.

“oh? inviting me? fuck it, yea lemme get dressed.”

you step out of your dorm room, shocked by the interaction. “damn. she barley talks to me i don’t know why she’d wanna come out with-“ you stopped mid sentence when paige walked out of your dorm. she was wearing white pants and a pink crop top, you had only ever seen her wear basketball gear so you were a little shocked at this.

“mm.. she knows how to dress everyone.” you say matching paige’s pace in the hallway as two of your friends were a little in front of you.

“oh i know your not talking. this is the 3rd time ive ever seen you not wear a hoodie. probobly why you don’t have a boyfriend yet.”

“b-boyfriend? i’m sorry, what makes you think i like men?” you say crooking your head words paige, curious. “o-oh i’m sorry, i just-“

“your good. i get a lot that i look straight.. but im lesbian.” you say with a soft smile making eye contact with paige, as you realize she’s also smiling.

“hm. good to know.” paige says, looking your outfit up and down, and that’s whe your mind began spinning.

did i like paige? was she trying to tell me something? were we, not enemies?

you put those thoughts to the side as you reached the doors of the bar. it was a saturday night, so it was crowded but not as crowded as it is on fridays. you, paige and your two friends found spots at the bar, paige sitting next to you as she ordered a round of shots for you two without even asking what you wanted.

“oh? thank you? your not being mean to me for once?” you say out of confusion before downing the shot. “mmm. you don’t look half as bad tonight.”

“could say the same about you.”

pt 2 soon!!!

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Is yugo a proshipper/neutral? Genuine question because they’ve done some… questionable things in the past (shipping frans, using slurs they can’t claim in a comic (the f slur).

I mean I came across a post that said they were pretty chill with someone shipping epic with freaking Xgaster in march of this year and I was like??????? (Dude?? 1. That guy is an alternate version of your abusive father. 2. He’s basically Cross’s father (y’know your canonical best friend?)  who also abused by him. like what????)

(here the link btw https://www.tumblr.com/yugogeer012/745992208927293440/im-very-interested-in-how-yugo-reacts-to-the-fact?source=share )

And I find it weird that they seem to chill about that, but if you try and bring up epic in any way possible they lose it since they have unbridled hatred towards him and his fans. (bonus points when someone talks about shipping epic and cross, heck shipping epic with anyone male tends to make them annoyed, despite some early art depicting epic FLIRTING WITH METTATON) 

(also here the link: https://www.tumblr.com/sanicpluushy/761634810556039168/can-we-see-epicsans-flirtin-i-do-imagine?source=share ,

and my thoughts : https://www.tumblr.com/talonsirgo/761779011986800640/this-is-even-funnier-when-you-scroll-down-to?source=share)

I'm pretty sure they wiped Epic and his papyrus out of the comic just so they wouldn't have to deal with them anymore.

At this point i've already blocked them for their hostility towards all things epic/epic being gay/shipping him with xgaster and the whole frans stuff. I mean dude, even comyet is grossed out by anyone trying to ship ink with a gaster or his fathers (who are gasters and aren't even related by blood. Not that it matter tho, it's stil gross).

Come on yugo. You're better than this

(oooh btw did you se my where i @ you?? I found some pretty interesting analysis on cross thats been agreed upon by jakie herself, unfortunately it was done by the creator of dreamswap eugh.)

I don’t know if they are or not, because shipping Frans (or used to) and using f slurs while they actively seem to really really hate any gay ships but is very okay with lesbian ships seems a little strange. Potentially fetishizing perhaps, although maybe they’re just annoyed if they were constantly bombarded with sans x sans questions and stuff.

I don’t know Yugo, haven’t finished reading any of the Epictale content and i haven’t scrolled all through the blog, so I can’t say for sure. Maybe someone with more knowledge on this can chime in.

Although, after reading one of the links you sent me, i think you might’ve misread something.

The asker and yugo didn’t say they shipped Epic x XGaster or were okay with that, they say were okay with Epic Gaster x XGaster. No alternative sons being shipped with alternative fathers, although DILFs (im using this word just because they are both fathers not because i personally want to fuck them 💀) who are the same person are being shipped and yugo at least doesn’t mind or doesn’t care.

I don’t know what their issue is with their own characters and people liking them, but I think yugo probably needs to set some boundaries with fans if they haven’t already.

rather than getting annoyed when people inevitably ship best friends and one of them is their character who they make flirt with men, perhaps they should just ask people to not send them questions about sans x sans ships, or crepic if it really makes them that uncomfortable. and if anyone does, just delete the asks or comments or reblogs.

getting annoyed when people bring up or ask about the characters you made seems pretty strange to me, it’s just a sign that people really like your character enough to be obsessed with them, but i can understand if they got annoyed if epic was all anyone focused on and not any of the other characters. but in that case, they should probably just delete anything they get about epic (from fans) they don’t want to see or answer.

but to allow your emotions and fans like of your character to cause you to change a story, or erase or get rid of the character, just to spite the fans/character or just so you don’t have to deal with them seems very odd to me. perhaps yugo needs to take a step back from the Epictale “fanbase” and stop engaging with it.

they can’t control what fans do with their work and characters as soon as it leaves their own eyesight, and they’d be better off not stressing over it. and fans should respect them, and stop bringing fandom stuff to them like ships or asking their opinions on ships—no one needs a creator’s opinion on a ship.

epic is a different thing, since he’s literally a character in the story, and a sans at that—which of course means people will bring him up and ask about him. if they don’t want to answer anything about epic, they should make that very clear and then don’t answer. Not answer just to give annoyed, passive aggressive replies. I think it’s sad when creators allow a fanbase to taint and affect their feelings about their work.

{ @talonsirgo }

[prongsandpetals]

no one asked for this but i’m saying it anyway because i am tired of this grandpa.

i dont hate jegulus or their shippers. personally, it doesnt make sense to me and my moral compass trickles into fiction meaning i dont have much interest in any of the slytherins. it could also be the fact that when people would create oc’s for james in their fics 10 yrs ago and made lily a raging bitch id be fighting them all in the comments- a fight or flight response that now has spread to jegulus- but thats neither here nor there. it brings people joy and they are fictional characters, and it doesnt physically hurt anyone!

but there is something to be said about some of the less savoury implications it has had on the fandom. it feels as though jily is in its own subfandom sort of pushed to the side, leaving two mlm ships to dominate. unfortunately a lottt of female characters have been forgotten or pushed aside because of this. a lot of people who joined the fandom not that long ago either dont know or forget that this fandom was not built on either wolfstar (who i love), or jegulus. yes, they popularised them, but this fandom has revolved around jily for over 10 years. not to mention many of these fics were written from lilys pov, meaning there was so much more depth put into the girls characters. to erase this is to erase the fandoms history.

the diversifying of characters is something amazing that has come more recently with the popularisation of the fandom and thats one of the good parts!! however if someone still views aaron taylor johnson as their james, that doesn’t make them a racist - the man has been james since at least 2006.

another (smaller) thing ive seen is someone will post a song or a photo and attribute it to a jily moment with harry that we can realistically see happening canonically and a comment will say something along the lines of: “this but its how james felt when regulus (insert something that did not happen here)” idk if its the autism but god those always get me a little bit, especially when it includes harry.

similarly, it feels as though people who ship jily are assumed to be less progressive. as a lesbian jily shipper i can’t disagree more. just because a ship is a straight ship does not make it a bad ship - i think we can all agree there are so many amazing LGBTQ+ ships out there now for everyone to enjoy. it does feel quite strange to me to place the two characters who created the child that there are seven books about into different ships, but people like them so its chill!! but when its just complete eradication or discontent with the canon ship… ;(

i also think that to have jegulus be endgame (except aus), a lot of james’s insanely important character traits literally HAVE to be erased. his hatred for death eaters and fight for justice, his unending loyalty to his friends - especially sirius- his black and white view on right and wrong, all of these traits become warped and stretched when it comes to jegulus. of course there isnt much canon to go off of so when people disregard it entirely i can understand it to a degree. but when you erase the important canon points we have on their characters, we are basically just creating oc’s with real characters names.

another thing that i find irksome is the fetishisation of these mlm ships- if youre gonna ship two men together do it right!! why are you calling regulus a cute little baby victim and james a big strong protector!! let them be complex and messy or dont do it at all! not to mention the erasure of a lot of wlw ships... lowkey gives girl who has gay boy best friend that thinks lesbians are weird… anyways off topic! ive heard people say its not fetishisation, its because the female characters arent written with depth- that’s why people read jegulus and wolfstar! okay? go give the girls some depth? regulus is a character we basically know nothing about canonically and youve turned him into a fully fleshed character who is now a lot of peoples favourite - it can be done with the girls too. there is such emphasis placed on wolfstar and jegulus for their deep, tragic love stories - and the marauders friendship in general. the gryffindor girls are right there. dorlene is right there. marylene is right there.

and if it truly werent fetishisation, i would argue that it can be a romanticisation of toxic relationships. a lot of people dislike jily because there is no “angst”. the angst is fighting in a war at 21 years old. the angst is lily and james’s differing blood statuses and the implications this has on their lives. the angst is having a prophecy hanging over their unborn child’s head that forces them into hiding. the angst is being betrayed by their best friend, leading them to sacrifice themselves for their family and the wizarding world. the angst is literally right there, but because their relationship is healthy and happy- one of the only things in their lives that is not full of pain- they are deemed boring.

again, i dont hate jegulus. i especially dont dislike anyone who likes the ship and gets something out of it. but there is so much change this fandom has gone through since their introduction and popularisation that has made interacting with the fandom as a whole almost unbearable sometimes, and thats what i do hate.

all in all, multishippers definitely have the most fun.

[bibucktrashpanda]

Princess Part 2

Okay this plot bunny won't leave me alone and all the notes and reblogs made me happy so I am just going to write while inspiration strikes. I am not sure if there will be more of this but I also didn't know there was going to be a part two. Warning for language. Not beta'ed, we die like Buck's heterosexuality.

Summary: Tommy loves his boyfriend and honestly it's not fair that he now has two sets of puppy eyes to resist. Link to part 1 below.

Princess Part 2

Tommy knows that he is fucked the moment he sees the photo from Eddie. 

It’s almost 4 am and he has just gotten home from a rough shift but he isn’t tired. He just wants Evan but knows Evan won’t be home for a few hours. 

Climbing into bed without his lover is anathema for him after a shift that was filled with casualties and so he decides to catch up on some chores. He knows better than to fuck around with Evan’s kitchen so he doesn’t do much more than helping himself to a Tupperware of leftovers that have his name in a heart on a sticky note on top of it. 

He is about to eat it standing at their counter but than hears even’s voice lecturing him about respecting the animal that gave its life for the meat in the lasagna even if it had come from the farmers market from a small farm owned by a lesbian couple in their 50’s that Evan has charmed and has been invited to visit. Evan had gone on a research binge on industrial farming and by the end Tommy hasn’t even been able to look at packaged meat in the grocery store without feeling nauseous and heartbroken. 

So Tommy takes his food to the unfinished breakfast nook and sits down to eat it, mindfully. He snorts thinking about the ‘demure’ meme that even has been quoting nonstop for weeks after learning about it from Christopher. 

He is just finishing when his phone chirps with an incoming text. The preview is just a gaudy gif of an “It’s a girl” banner. Confused, he clicks on it to see a photo of Evan cradling a tiny puppy to his chest which looks massive next to the tiny pup. A follow up text from Eddie reads “Congrats on becoming a dog dad. Her name is Princess and nothing is going to pry her out of Evan’s hands. You are so fucked.”

Tommy has to agree. The focus of the photo is the puppy but Tommy can still see the expression on Evan’s face, one that he is familiar with because Evan looks at him like that all the time, pure love. 

He is so fucked. 

Because he can be a bitch he texts back to Eddie “I mean I’m not fucked at the moment but Evan generally is very thorough. Let me know which vet you end up at?” And while Evan is the notorious list maker out of the two of them, Tommy can appreciate a good list and starts making a list of supplies they need for their newest family member, while ignoring Eddie's response of "MY EYES". 

**** 

An hour later he gets a text from Evan with an address and a request. “Her throat is bruised from her collar, can you swing by a store and pick up a puppy chest harness? This is one has good reviews and should be in stock at this  24 hour Petco and meet me at the vet?”

He smiles and responds “You’ve been busy. Aren’t you forgetting something?”

He is already moving to the door when he gets a response from Evan. It’s a photo of Evan, changed out of his turnouts, pouting, holding up the puppy, who is clean and awake. Both of them are staring at the camera with two sets of blue eyes and surprisingly the puppy has a black patch of fur over her left eye which almost matches up with Evan’s birthmark. 

Christ, he’s whipped. How is he supposed to hold out against two sets of puppy eyes one of which is from an actual puppy??

The text below the photo reads “Please, Daddy?”

He is so fucked. “Not in front of the kid!  Fine, you brat. See you in a little bit.”

The next photo is Evan grinning as the Princess licks his cheek. 

He is just getting to the store when he gets another text. “Uh, since you are going to the store anyway, pretty please?” with the pleading face emoji  and a list of supplies that pretty well matches the list he jotted down earlier. He sends Evan a photo of his list resting in the small basket of a shopping cart with the eye rolling emoji. 

The sky is just beginning to brighten when Tommy pulls up to the emergency vet, he should be exhausted but he finds that he is excited to meet Princess and to see Evan. 

The receptionist looks up as he enters with one of his shopping bags. “You must be Tommy?”

He nods and raises an eyebrow at her. “Mr. Buckley said to imagine the most gorgeous man i have ever seen and then double it. I can see what he means.” 

He chuckles and follows as she leads him back. “I mean I would describe him the same way.” 

Before she can respond they enter a room where Evan is sitting on the floor bad leg extended out, puppy snoozing pressed up against the inside. Evan is lightly petting her with one hand and scrolling on his phone with the other, humming softly. 

Tommy’s heart melts into a puddle and he quickly snaps a photo before Buck looks up. 

“Hey.” He says softly, crouching down next to Buck to give him a quick peck. 

“Thanks for coming.” Evan smiles at him. Tommy smiles back. “Of course.” It’s become a thing, echoing this exchange from what Evan calls their actual first date. In the back of his head he is toying with the idea of getting ‘of course’ engraved on the engagement ring he has had picked out since just after the Billy Boil incident. He stood at the  edge of that grave, listening to his ridiculous boyfriend eulogize a man who had been dead for over a century and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wanted to spend the rest of his life indulging this man whose heart seemed to have infinite capacity. 

“So what happened?” He asks, wrapping an arm around Evan who leans into him. 

“I found her tangled under a bush as I was doing a check of a yard of a burnt out house. She was cold and crying and couldn’t free herself. Turns out she belonged to the family that lived there and didn’t make it. The one relative the police could find hates dogs and was just going to drop her off at a shelter.” Evan turned to him “I couldn’t let that happen, not when bully breeds don’t have a good adoption rate! She’s already traumatized.” His voice is distressed and Tommy presses a kiss to his birthmark. “Shhhh, of course you couldn’t.” He murmurs against the pink skin which is one of his favorite things about Evan. 

He settles in next to Evan and stares down at the puppy who is blinking awake. Closer he can see that she resembles a pitbull or at least mostly pitbull, with black freckles on her white nose.  The rest of her seems to be white except for the tip of her tail which looks like she dipped it in an inkwell and is wagging so quickly he almost expects to see a cartoon cloud of dust poofing up. 

“Hi Princess.” He holds his hand by her, letting her choose to come to him. She stumbles over and all but shoves her head into his palm. She is soft and Tommy already loves her. 

“Taking after your pop with that grace.” He teases stroking her back. Evan makes a noise and he looks up to see Evan gazing at him smiling softly.

He looks back down at Princess who is trying to climb up his leg and gently picks her up to cradle her between him and Evan. 

“Welcome to the family, honey,” He whispers as Evan brings a hand up to stroke her. They have a lot to do and he can feel the exhaustion settling into his bones, but there is nowhere in the world he would rather be then here, cuddled up with the love of his life and their new puppy. 

[polaris-likethestar]

making a part two to a previous post i made where i complained about the whole lesbian representation thing (once again so sorry for the long post, ima put a TLDR at the end) i saw on one of @holyblanchett ‘s asks someone mentioned that a show about middle aged women dealing with their trauma really started to stray away from that storyline, and how the story of sisterhood got pushed aside just to focus on the agatha/billy mentor/student storyline and i couldn’t agree more

also i know that this tackles some controversial as fuck topics and i know i’m gonna have people disagreeing with me and i realize i def could’ve said all of this in a better way but honestly, the anon really got me thinking and now i’m just even more pissed and this needs to be said (and ofc this is js my opinion)

anyways, the ironic thing is, i highly doubt jac and all the other writes and directors went in thinking this way. i do not, at all, believe that this was done on purpose. i just don’t believe that. what i do think that happened is that we, as a society, are so so so used to dealing with misogyny and we’re so used to hearing that younger is better that those sort of things just kind of stuck with us, whether or not we wanted it to.

the whole motherhood storyline with agatha was heartbreaking and should not be considered as just another way of fitting her a stereotypical woman category. motherhood is a beautiful thing and this was such an integral part of agatha’s story. however, we have been so accustomed to hearing that motherhood is a must-have for women that it’s become something that several (not all) people associate with “typical female roles” which is said because plenty of women/afab people enjoy being mothers and are excited to be a mother and motherhood is a beautiful thing (side note: if you are/want to be a mother that is amazing for you and don’t think i’m saying fuck motherhood cs that’s not what this is at all)

so, for me at least, it’s not the focus on agatha’s role as a mom that pisses me off. i love how her relationship with her son shows where some of her anger stems from, i love how well they incorporated that storyline into the show. but for me, it’s the that fact that motherhood is literally one of the biggest female stereotypes and like i said i don’t believe this was intentional what so ever but a story that basically says fuck stereotypes is being so stereotypical. like i said it sucks

and i know they did this to play into the whole maiden mother crone thing which was such a prominent thing in the show but still it doesn’t feel fair

also the whole “lesbian romance getting lowk pushed aside for a gay boy” thing co-insides with the whole “accidental sexist depections of womenhood situation” like i said before, we are so used to hearing that younger is better and billy is just that - young and he’s a boy. (i really really need to specify: no hate towards joe locke what so ever i truly mean it fuck u if ur hating he had nth to do with the writing and he does not deserve any hate)

so, yeah, like i said this probably could’ve been written better and i do believe any of this is one persons fault, no hate to ANY of the creators or cast they’re all amazing people and ultimately this show has been a huge step up when it comes to representation and has progressed so so much from so many other disney projects and shows and movies but still, this is js smth that bugged me sm and i rly felt it needed to be addressed in length cs this is js the same story, different show and i hate how accustomed society has become to stuff like this.

TLDR: people have become so used to gender roles and the idea that younger is better that even in a show that is a huge step up on disneys part when it comes to representation, we still have so far to go and i felt like this needed to be addressed but ultimately no hate to any of the cast or creators

[feminist-furby-freak]

Well can you explain Gender Ideology with who uses it and where? Can you show where I can find it? Can you describe it without conspiracy theory or recycled homophobia? You are welcome to try.

So I think some of the confusion might come from the language. I know you’re being facetious with this comment but anyway. I am literally a gender studies major so this will probably be more in depth than what you’re asking but maybe someone can benefit.

Gender Ideology™️ isn’t some sort of official concept and doesn’t have an agreed upon definition or foundational text like other social theories. It’s a way of conceptualizing sex and gender. Other analogous frameworks would be biblical gender roles, the Christian fundamentalist ideas of men and women, or postmodernist queer theory, something like Butler’s Gender Performativity.

You’re right that gender ideology is vague and non-specific and I think this is because of the interaction between academia, politics, medicine, and popular culture. Sure, academics and theorists influence society, but rarely in such a direct way (please feel free to correct me). For example, the American civil rights movement and women’s liberation movement had academic elements, but were not governed by how academics theorized race and sex, they were based on people’s lived experiences. Transgenderism, I think, is the opposite and somewhat of an escaped lab experiment. Towards the end of the 20th century, academics began to write about gender in more provocative and philosophical ways. Obviously, this was not the first time anyone had done this, but there was a huge shift in the way academic spaces thought about gender in the US after women achieved full legal rights (which didn’t happen until the 1970s btw). I’m sure the fact that women and gays/lesbians could finally be scholars and professors was important as well. Anyway, I might disagree with Butler, but her theory work is at least intellectually robust. And if you read Butler, it’s very obvious that she is first and foremost a philosopher, not a sociologist or an anthropologist, and this is clear when you hear her speak (which I’ve done btw). Contemporary transgenderism, as a social category, is a direct result of these theorists. There is a lot of misrepresenting or even rewriting history but “transgender” as we understand it today did not exist 20 years ago. We like to call people like Marsha P Johnson transgender, but he didn’t identify that way. He called himself a gay man, a cross dresser, a drag queen, a transvestite etc etc. TRAs often say “trans people have always existed” and homosexual behavior and gender nonconformity (and maybe even sex dysphoria) have always existed but trans as a concept undeniably has not. I could talk a lot more about historical falsehoods and Transgenderism but for the sake of getting to the point I’ll move on for now.

Gender ideology, is how groups like radfems refer to the Frankenstein monstrosity that is the framework Western left/progressives use today to think about gender and sex in order to be inclusive to transgender identifying people. The main ideas are that biological sex is not real and neither is sex-based oppression. It maintains that social and medical transition is necessary for transgender people to live, and that medicine is able to change someone’s biological sex (it can’t). Being transgender is not just dysphoria but some innate sense that someone’s soul is differently gendered than their biological sex (except biological sex is also somehow not real, one of many paradoxes). A woman is “someone who identifies a woman,” even though this phrase is completely meaningless. Because gender is not tied to biology sex, it relies on social ideas. As a result, gender ideology reinforces regressive gender roles and stereotypes, without which it cannot exist. 20 years ago we said boys can play with dolls and it doesn’t mean they’re gay because gender stereotypes aren’t innate and are very harmful, today “we” say that boys who play with dolls are actually girls and need to be given a pink makeover and put on medication. While society was beginning to move away from gender, gender ideology has brought it back to the center and gender is once again considered to be central to one’s identity (and personality) and maybe even the most important fact about them. For this reason “misgendering” and similar actions are considered violent attacks on personhood. Crucially, gender ideology converges with conservative gender ideals through its obsession with gender and performing femininity and masculinity.

[copper-16]

Genuine question here, I hope this doesn’t come off as rude.

I don’t understand why people are hanging this over korbin alberts head so much. Yes I agree she made a mistake, but as lesbian who grew up in a very catholic town, it is against that religion to support the LGBTG+ community. Which is a main reason I left that religion.

There is a difference between supporting and showing respect for a community and while I think she hasn’t shown any to enough respect. I don’t believe she is entirely obligated to apologize for following apart of her religion.

Hope u have a great day🫶

I understand what you are trying to convey, however I have to say that I respectfully disagree with you.

I don’t find religion to be a complete excuse for this, because at the end of the day her actions are the problem, not her religion. I do understand what you’re saying about the fact that she might have grown up in an environment that was very anti LGBTQ+. Perhaps Korbin did grow up in this kind of a church, but that’s doesn’t mean that she still can’t be held accountable for how her actions hurt those around her.

I respect Korbin Albert’s choice to be religious, even if I am not so myself. But her religion cannot be used to perpetuate hatred. There’s a loss of mutual respect and trust between a community and a person when they like or interact with such openly hateful content in such a way. I look at players like Sam Coffey, who are religious and yet still chooses to be allies and not say anything hateful against LGBTQ+ people. Maybe it is Sam’s belief that marriage is between a man and woman, but this isn’t something she imposes to others. And I also don’t see her saying any hateful things toward the LGBTQ+ community.

The reason I find that many people are “holding this over her head” is because her actions were public and hurt a LOT of people. She also appears to show little remorse about it what she has said. I think Sam Mewis put this rather well in saying that because her actions were public, her apology and continuation of learning should be (at least to some extent). We aren’t just going to sweep this under the rug and move on. She is still accountable for her actions.

Under no circumstances does religion justify the perpetration of hate.

There would be a similar reaction towards a player who was equally opposed to the LGBTQ+ community if they weren’t religious. If a completely secular player did or said similar things without a religious reasoning behind it, people would be equally outraged. The conflict at its core is about the actions.

I’m not planning to answer anymore asks on this particular topic on my page moving forward

[nimbusalba]

Neil Gaiman, my thoughts and my love for good omens

I already said something about all this deal with Neil Gaiman yesterday in another blog. But I still have Things To Say, so here it comes (with links to all the info):

Here is the article (thank you @procrastiel)

Here is a link to the podcasts for free (thank you @queermarzipan)

Here is the Xitter post with the accusations podcast thingy (thank you @embracing-the-ineffable)

Here is the transcript of the first podcast episode.

The Main Thing I Have To Say:

We need to separate the author from his work (and with this I’m not speaking only about Neil Gaiman). While we might not agree with some things about the author's life or thoughts, that doesn't mean we can not keep enjoying their work, as long as that work is not morally unacceptable, obviously. Let’s take the example of one of my favorite tv shows of all time (other than good omens): Buffy The Vampire Slayer (and with this I’m showing my age here, ahem). Buffy is a magnificent show, a wonderful exponent of feminism (strong female protagonist and secondary characters), diversity (one of the main characters is a lesbian), critical thinking, death, love, inner strength, battling your own demons… As we all know, accusations of harassment against Joss Wheddon appeared in 2020 and a lot of his work was left behind. I agree that knowing that the creator of something you love is an abuser breaks your heart. But that doesn’t mean that you have to stop loving that show, that it stops being a great work of art or that you should feel bad for still liking it. Buffy the vampire slayer is still one of my favorite shows and I still rewatch it from time to time (not on loop as I do with good omens, but that’s another problem). And why? Simply because in that show a lot of very talented people worked very hard to make it great, not just Joss Wheddon. And I appreciate it even more now knowing that the actresses and actors (and rest of the crew)  in the series didn’t have as good a time filming it as they should have. 

My take on this story:

I’ve already said that my first impulse is always to side with the victims in these cases, because they rarely lie and the accusations tend to be proven true in the end. In this particular case, for the time being, I’m waiting for developments, as the information that has transpired is fishy, to say the least. I’m not defending Neil Gaiman either, mind you. Maybe tomorrow we will find another 20 people accusing him of abuse. I don’t know him nor pretend to know what he’s done in his life. For the time being, as I said yesterday, this looks to me like consensual sex between consenting adults. That shouldn’t be news to anyone, even if the practices in themselves are not your kind of kink. It’s not on to have sex with someone who is working for you, of course, but still in this particular case that’s not exactly what’s happened. The woman in question (Scarlett) was a friend of the family, not strictly a worker. They already had a friendship relationship before turning it into a sexual relationship and a working relationship on top of that. With this I’m only trying to say that it doesn’t look like she felt forced to have sex with him in order to keep her job and she has said that the sex was consensual. The other victim has also said that even if she didn’t particularly enjoy the sex it was also consensual. 

It looks like both victims were pretty young when the relationships took place. It's true that younger people can have problems when it comes to place boundaries, and an older or more experienced partner could take advantage of that. It is also true that later in life, when that person is more experienced or has had time to think about things, they can think about what they did and feel uncomfortable with it, even though it didn’t feel wrong in the heat of the moment and they said nothing then. But, as far as I know, that's not sexual assault.

This looks to me as something that’s been designed to hurt Neil Gaiman’s public image. Maybe he’ll come out of it without any criminal charges, as he has already offered his help to the New Zealand police and they have refused to interrogate him for the time being, apparently because of lack of proof yet. But his public image has been tainted, not only because of the accusations, but because anyone who has their sexual life exposed and discussed publicly suffers a great deal of humiliation, even more so if their sexual practices are not exactly mainstream. With this I’m not implying that BDSM or any other kink is wrong, as long as it is being played by consenting adults. No judgment here, everyone has their own kink, and I don’t care as long as they don’t harm anyone (or if they want to be lightly harmed).

Keep also in mind that one is innocent until proven guilty and in this case there is not a lot of proof yet and the place the news is coming from is suspicious, to say the least. Wait for developments (and see).

Conclusion

So keep loving good omens, I know I still do, keep enjoying it, writing fanfic, drawing amazing art, writing metas and discussing about it. Because this show is still a brilliant show, in which a lot of very talented people worked very hard to make it the wonderful work of art that it still is and we shouldn’t dismiss all that work because someone wants to hurt one of the authors. 

(Edited because of wording)

[eddiediazismyhusband]

No but you’re so right about not wanting to watch season 8 because after how they handled the doppelgänger storyline I don’t want to watch it, with the rumours Gavin isn’t coming back and how this show has handled estranged parents storylines in the past I just have zero faith they’re going to do Eddie any justice especially after they sent him back to before the show levels of development, practically erasing everything we’ve seen him work on from seasons 2-6, like I can just picture the Diaz parents redemption and Eddie thanking them for taking Chris and ignoring everything a little like they did with the Buckleys

And something something this show hates happy queer parents, I don’t know how to really articulate this but like even if they do a gay Eddie storyline now, it’s not sitting right with me that it’s only happening now Chris is gone, like I know Eddie filters life through Chris/doesn’t really know who he is without the parent role etc etc I know that but with the way they treat Henren on the show and the way they treat Denny and Mara’s storylines, it almost seems like they weren’t going to let Eddie figure himself out while also actively parenting—it’s giving the straight grandparents need to save Chris from his gay dad (like they wanted to all along) i don’t know if I’m getting my point across well but it’s giving a “if you’re queer and a parent you will not be happy on this show your kid/s will get taken away from you”

👏👏👏

this. i understand the argument that eddie needs a chance to examine things without looking throughthe Chris lense, but it feels like he absolutely 100% could have had the realization because of Chris. like it would have taken chris saying he views buck as his dad one time and eddie would have spiralled and everything would have begun to fall into place— i get gavin having conflicts due to his move and possibly having to leave the show but there were so many other ways to essentially write him off (yes ik nothing is confirmed and that he very well could come back in a much slimmed down onscreen role such as may/harry) but it feels like they just went “eh… eddie started to reconcile with his dad…. let’s just send chris away even though eddie realistically would not have built up that much trust in this short amount of time (especially w helena)

and i 1000% agree w it mimicking the henren trauma bc why are we targeting the black lesbians with the same storyline we already saw with Nia…. why are we now lumping eddie into the traumatized poc paranoid losing their kid trope? especially if they plan to make him queer?

like i fully understand this show is a drama, but i miss when it was a DRAMA and not a SOAP OPERA… like earlier seasons had their fair amount of dramatic shit going on but this is just ridiculous and some of it feels farcical to me at this point… especially with the handling of buck’s bisexuality where his coming out scene to maddie included a joke about “always checking out a hot guy’s ass” once again reducing his character down to sex even though Buck has grown past that… idk it just rubs me the wrong way that we’re either sex-hungry, sassy, traumatized, or all three in one and it doesn’t sit right with me.

also them actively chosing to make a known problematic character queer just to serve as a plot device for a sexuality arc that didn’t even live up to any potential bc they kissed once, went on a coffe date and bam they’re suddenly together? even for a straight couple that’s such an anticlimactic relationship buildup let alone a queer one… and not only that but using his queerness as an excuse for his racism and misogynistic behavior as a way to sweep it under the rug is so icky to me… like why is the only decently treated canonically queer character Josh??? (even though even he was part of that whole hate crime plot!)

it’s so hard as a queer person to watch other queer people be told by straight people that they should settle for what we have… and that those queer people listen and also somehow think that settling is all we can do. i know it’s easy to settle for shit, but i’m sorry i did not spend six years watching these two build something beautiful to see it thrown away because what they gave us is (not even) “good enough.”

it really is disheartening.

anyway sorry for turning this into another rant post, anon, i just liked your added point of the traumatized queer parent thing and wanted to expand on that some more!

[pbaz7]

Caroline:Hey, wyd.

carol I am normally your biggest fan, but respectfully... fuck off!

As she tried to swing her legs off Paige’s lap, Paige’s hands shot out, gently grabbing her legs and keeping them in place.

p is such a lover girl im crying

Caroline wasted no time, her voice direct. “So, is there any news on the Paige front?”

carol do you have a crush on Paige or something cuz b please shut up

“Because, Azzi, you’re not taking this seriously. Everything isn’t just about the ‘amazing’ sex you’re having.”

personally if I was having amazing sex w Paige Bueckers I would make everything about it

“Wait!” Caroline’s voice came quickly, stopping Azzi in her tracks. “I invited Josh here.”

sorry I must've heard you wrong...

Caroline gave her a pointed look. “No, you and Paige are hooking up.”

CAROLINE PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP

Caroline shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the floor. “I already kind of made arrangements…”

is it April first or some shit?

Caroline hesitated, then blurted out, “I already kinda told him you agreed and that you were excited to see him.”

is this bitch homophobic or smth...

Azzi’s eyes widened, and she let out a bitter laugh, bringing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “What the fuck, Caroline? What is wrong with you?”

my thoughts exactly baby

Paige nodded without hesitation, already standing and tossing her controller on the couch. “Ice, do singles for a while,” she said, barely sparing her roommate a glance as she reached for Azzi’s hand.

she would drop her whole life and career for az

Josh doesn’t bother me.”

okay babe... you tell yourself that!

Ice didn’t look away from the screen, raising a lazy hand in acknowledgment. “Cool. Have fun. Don’t get arrested.”

I love ice sm you guys

Azzi caught her staring and raised an eyebrow, her lips curving into a playful smirk. “You’re really not even gonna try to be subtle about it, are you?”

i LIVE for down bad p

She settled comfortably in between Paige’s legs in the available seat, leaning back, her posture at ease as she claimed the space.

these fucking lesbians man (im a lesbian)

“Azzi I didn’t know you swung for the other team now,”

and I didn't my fist was gonna be swung onto your face but look at where we are now...

“I wouldn’t have let you wear something like that when we were together. Not that it’s my business, but, yeah, I’d definitely have said something before you left the house.”

you're right! it's not you business!

“How’d you get Azzi to flip sides?

quick! no one tell him that you don't chose to be gay, you just are. he seems like the type to not believe that

“So,” he started, his voice casual but his words pointed, “you must be pretty good at what you do to get Azzi.”

I mean like yeah but excuse you

“Wouldn’t have come all the way out here if I knew you were a dyke now.”

I audibly gasped at the dinner table sorry what

“she must be crazy in bed now if she’s got you reacting like this. I’d love to try her out again”

ok so I might actually have punched my phone screen...

Without missing a beat, she swung her fist at his jaw, the movement swift before anyone could stop her. 

YES BABY YOU DEFEND YOUR GIRL LIKE THAT

Before Paige could respond, Caroline approached hesitantly, guilt etched across her face. "Azzi, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. For everything. For Josh and how—"

please go away mama carol.

Azzi laughed, shaking her head. "You can punch a 6’0 guy twice, but you’re scared of a little alcohol pad? You’re such a baby, Paige."

Paige being a softy is canon and you can't tell me its not

"So… what do I get for behaving today?"

me🧍‍♀️

Paige swallowed hard, her breath shaky as she finally managed to reply. "Still… average." Her voice cracked slightly, betraying her.

bitch be so fr

*the entire smut scene

OML OML OML I AM SO DOWN BAD FOR BOTH OF THEM I LITERALLY CANT ANYMORE THEYRE SO FINE ALSO I LOVE THAT PAIGE IS FINALLY GETTING SOME ACTION FOR HERSELF

-🍉

author ilysm

omg i need you guys to do more of these they’re great 😭

i lowkey hated making caroline the bad guy but it had to be her or nika and i PERSONALLY love nika a little too much for that

thank you 🍉 i needed this 🥺🫶🏼

[transmascpetewentz]

I really want to know, why does it bother you so much that there are cis gay men in the world who do not want to have sex with afab people? it triggers your dysphoria and makes you feel bad, I gather that much, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t entitled to their sexual boundaries.

especially when there are countless posts made by gay people that are talking about same sex attraction that get dog piled by trans people feeling excluded, when they just are inherently excluded from some peoples sexual attraction.

gender and sex are different yes? and sexuality is based on sex. this seems to be something we disagree on. trans men are men, they have the right to live as themselves and transition, but they are still trans. not everyone is going to be sexually attracted to them, or have them included in their sexuality, especially people who are single sex attracted. I want to know what’s transphobic about this.

your crusade to get cis people to accept any genitals in a partner is actively driving a wedge in the lgbt community, I would like to understand your perspective beyond “this makes my dysphoric, I feel excluded, therefore I will create the term TEHM and make these people into villains on tumblr.com”

I ask this out of curiosity, I am interested to hear what your takes are in one place since it’s hard to find your whole POV across multiple posts. We don’t agree and probably won’t ever agree, but I hope you can see where I’m coming from and I hope I can do the same for you.

I was going to delete this ask, but this is the most politely that one of you has come into my inbox. I don't have the energy to write up anything that long about the subject but I'll try my best.

As I have stated many, many times, I don't care if an individual cis gay man doesn't date or fuck trans men. I really don't. The problem arises when cis gay men claim that they cannot be attracted to trans men, or that their supposed lack of attraction to us makes us any less male or any less gay.

A cis gay man making a blanket statement about never wanting to date/fuck a trans man in specific is like an allistic person loudly proclaiming that they would never date/fuck an autistic person, or a white person saying they would never be with a POC. While their individual choices don't matter, their "preferences" reveal that they are bigots.

"Trans men are men" is incompatible with the idea that gay men cannot be attracted to us. Hell, I'm a gay man, and I love my fellow trans men. If a gay man truly sees trans men as men, he will have the capacity to be attracted to us. The idea that sexuality is based on sex can be easily debunked by many examples of cis gay men dating and fucking trans men, as well as the fact that we have documented evidence of so-called "I'm only attracted to biological males!!!" type of men unknowingly fucking stealth trans men.

Now onto my more important point, the issue with TEHMs is not that they embarrass themselves by making a huge display about how they're so obsessed with hating boypussy, but that they try to claim that their own lack of attraction to trans men means that we should not be included in gay male spaces.

Not every cis gay man is going to be included in the attraction of every other cis gay man, but we don't see fem4fem cis gays claiming that masc cis gays don't belong in our spaces, do we? But because trans men are treated like shit even by other queer people, no one comes to defend us.

And as for posts that talk about "same sex attraction" being dogpiled by trans people, yeah, they deserved that. Gay trans men and transfem lesbians experience homophobia, and the vast majority of experiences that TEHMs call "SSA experiences" apply to us. Gay trans men are a very diverse group of people with very different experiences and daily lives from each other.

I also did not coin "TEHM." It was coined in 2017 by another Tumblr user who I don't remember the username of.

And before you go "but what about cis gay men who are trans allies who just aren't attracted to them 🥺" and to that I say, please show me someone. I have yet to meet a cis gay man who claims to have a genital preference or who says he would never fuck boypussy, who is also a trans ally. They all end up going mask off immediately. And so many of them try and make their subconscious biases that make them believe trans men are unattractive my problem.

It's true that we probably won't ever agree on this, especially if you're cis. If you're trans, I wish you the best of luck overcoming your internalized transphobia, and my blog will be waiting for you when that time comes. You seem to misunderstand the problem that I and other gay trans men have with TEHMs, and it comes from the bias that we're just entitled women who want to fuck gay men.

Obviously, when a gay trans man calls out bigotry, he can't ever have a point 🙄 it must just be someone refusing to play along with his fetish! (sarcasm)

[malkaleh]

Some More Fictional Universe Discord Content

@nocompromise-noregrets

Ellie - just a warning that you will probably want to strangle Armada (i had to take five minutes to scream) but she gets smacked down and also I CANNOT EVEN.

Armada: no really WHAT IS THE KARLIENE REYNOLDS SONG??

i had a name before him/i took it back/but his brand upon me/will never wash away/in the light of the sun and stars/i thought i might be holy moonlight/instead of tainted ground/an eagle collar about my neck.

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock: I DON’T KNOW BUT I HATE IT [one fear dot gif] because Thomas has been associated with the moon so much (Henry’s poetry, Anne’s - the motifs in their possessions) and Norwich’s personal coat of arms is an eagle owl.

TransCrozier: SHIT SHIT SHIT FUCK. FUCK. I am going to go and lay in the DIRT. AND EAT IT. Waiting is unbearable.

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock: Okay the watch party is over in #show-watch - it will contain spoilers, live reactions and memes. And PANICK.

PoppyMcGee: THE OPENING. THE OPENING. SHIT FUCK FUCK. Let me break this down.

the entire scene with john and thomas is horrific just horrific. the threat the menace that bruise he left.

and then thomas ripping off all the sheets and covers on his bed and that part with trying to scrub his skin i just…god that’s awful. James Frain you owe me for emotional damages.

how he knew to cover up the self harm scars and the bruises like WHAT DOES THIS MEAN (we know about his father but the scars are…that’s something else).

Armada: it must have been a really bad breakup like that is some bad blood (sorry for the taylor swift) between them to send thomas into that spiral.

TransCrozier: respectfully this is not ‘a bad breakup’ reaction and that is not someone reacting to a bad breakup related guilt. that is an abuser. Norwich is an abuser/was abusive. The way he so clearly used ‘you ruined any trace of me Antonius - when did you gain the notion that you could so ruin that which I own’ that is not romantic.

Armada: Like, I love you Rhi but no - it’s maybe not the healthiest but they were both younger then - Thomas was still early twenties and you don’t make the best decisions then and he’d come off an abusive childhood in the 16th century, I think what we are seeing is a breakdown about how he regrets how it ended/how he ended it specifically (also side note James is so pretty when he cries!)

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock:……OH SHIT ANNE. ANNE. ANNE.

PoppyMcGee: look i am not an Annewell shipper but the way she absolutely takes care of him - gives him the choice every step of the way! Tells him what she’s doing!

TransCrozier: I am a Triad OTPer as we all know (I just find Cromwich interesting as a multishipper) by now etc and just, THE LOVE. THE LOVE. THE WAY ANNE made sure to ask Thomas what coverings he didn’t want. Also I am soft for bathing scenes.

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock: AGREED RHI. AGREED SO HARD.

Armada: UGH ANNE DO WE HAVE TO SEE HER SO MUCH [Edit: I’m sorry I know the server doesn’t allow character hate but i just don’t like her or Cromannery. Or it’s not that i don’t like her but i don’t like her with Thomas].

Poppy McGee:….yeah i agree with you Essie - I want Anne to be the cool lesbian of my heart that she should be but i do love her taking care of thomas.

Armada: that bit was sweet but yeah, what poppy said. She doesn’t need men and she’s much worse for them! But what’s going on now.

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock:

“I was ten years old, my mother not long dead and my father was in need of funds and drink. Lord Norwich, as he was then offered him silver under a disguise so my father would not extort more funds out of him. I came into his household and thought myself landed somewhere better. He branded and bedded me for the first time that same day - I cut it out of me the day I took my chance and fled - five years almost to the day after.”

……I am going to be sick. I am going to be sick.

TransCrozier:

“I am but a tainted thing - he has been on and in every part of me - I could not speak of the shame, though I should have done - I should have never let you, let either of you think I was worthy of you, Your Majesty. I am so sorry.”

THOMAS BLAMES HIMSELF. HE STILL BLAMES HIMSELF I AM GOING TO RESURRECT NORWICH AND KILL HIM AGAIN MYSELF AND THEN REPEAT IT AGAIN.

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock: ANNE YOUR RESPONSE I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. NATALIE DORMER YOU GORGEOUS GORGEOUS HUMAN BEING.

TransCrozier: AMINA YOU ARE SO CORRECT. Queen Anne you perfect glorious woman I am once again AT YOUR FEET.

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock: hi @everyone i checked the history from several reputable sources (see here, here and here) and this is real. the show did not make it up - it’s just a recent discovery. Which i did not know about :(.

TransCrozier: neither did I i went in because RUPERT and then kind of fell into adoration - like obviously we all know triad is endgame because duh, history but i knew nothing else.

PoppyMcGee: I didn’t want to believe it :(. But I checked and it’s true :(. It’s fucking true. Norwich did that and he has no remorse.

RestorationistKingsLeftButtock: also fyi to several people who I’ve had to talk to about this - no ten was very much considered a child in the 16th century. Even fifteen was not ‘fully adult’ as such. This is rape and child sexual abuse and if you spout any more denial about that I will ban you.

TransCrozier: AMINA I AM KISSING YOU ON THE MOUTH. Also the fact that Anne volunteers to tell Henry, reassures Thomas that he won’t be angry just destroyed me all over again. CANNOT WAIT FOR THE POST SHOW CONTENT TO DESTROY ME AGAIN. ALSO HENRY’S REACTION.

Armada: …okay whatever. Sorry for having opinions i guess. can i even just say that even if it is abusive the triad is equally abusive.

[boycrazybimbo]

Hi again! I was the OG anon XD. Anyways, I hope ur doing well and all. Drink a cup of water and rest some- I know this may not apply to you, but still. :) Anyways, I came to rant again and get your honest opinion on WHB. Like, I don’t understand the part of being inclusive with male players. Don’t get me wrong, like, I’m fine with the game allowing male players, but that’s not exactly an Otome game, isn’t it? Like, its not actually targeted towards women, and it’s irritating that many fans make MC to be genderless… Like, it is an Otome game- Not a game “for everyone”. This isn’t offensive, but this will offend others. Like, come on. If prettybusy wanted a game for women, it should be for women- Sorry if I offend you, I just can’t shake this feeling off rn.

I agree with you. Here are things to consider:

The adult industry(pornography(hentai, games, etc.) is mostly male dominated. There’s a 2% chance that anything even remotely explicit will pertain to the female audience. Go check yourself. Visit your favorite site to watch adult content and you’ll only ever find things for males. Femboys for males, Lesbians for males, despite being lesbians, men fetishize them. Also, thus, there’s more gay porn for men than there is straight porn for women. It’s rare you’ll ever find porn female-centered.

Hentai games like What in “hell” is bad? always include male players. If it’s explicit, expect it to be for males, because apparently “more men watch porn”.

Hentai games, which are usually for males and are as proven many times, never include female players. You’re always playing this man who may or may not be an average joe, have a beer belly, may have dark skin or a blank face, or even a normal creep. Despite this, he manages to snag his harem of women by doing minimal tasks. Like… Umm… Hello? That’s not how women actually are- I would know as I am one myself and so are you.

So why are female-oriented games inclusive but male-oriented games aren’t?: There’s no explanation for that. Apparently making something for half the population, women, is seen as so inclusive that men can also be included. That’s not true, nor should it be. That’s basically a way of looking over women and catering to gay men. I find it odd how there’s more inclusion for gay men than women. Like, there’s definitely more women on this earth. That being said, that doesn’t help women at all. Like, if you cared so much about making things female-orientated, there shouldn’t be a male option to choose between. I don’t understand why prettybusy decided that to be best especially when their games “are for women”. Like, not really.

Making the MC neutral doesn’t contribute anything to female players, because if it actually were an otome game, and, as prettybusy said something along the lines of “We make MC’s face blank so others can relate more”, then making the MC female would definitely do the trick. If they clearly wanted female players to “relate to the MC”, then being genderless is not apart of that.

Other issues include:

The point of otome games are to raise and boost women’s confidence and self-worth. And creating an explicit otome games creates a bigger message: “A game for women that they can safely, unforgivably indulge in their desires and fantasies without being silenced”. This problem is still at large. Looking at pornography, women don’t receive foreplay, reassurance, or even viewed as humans sometimes. “Big butt latina”, “Petite asian chick”, “Hot ebony does […]”, “Sexy MILF”, “Curvy white chick”, “BBW does […]”… There’s a problem with all of these. They all either are (racist) stereotypes or unrealistic expectations.

“Petite asian”, “Big butt Latina” are either unrealistic or contributes to a beauty standard placed on women. Yes, it’s true many Asian women tend to be short and petite, but constantly putting labels like “petite” on them makes other women in comparison, usually blacks, appear more “masculine” or “unattractive”. “Big butt latinas” is a VERY high expectation of latin women. This doesn’t care about the well-being of the woman, but rather that assets she may or may not have. Women are more than butts.

Ebonies and BBWs: Ebonies isn’t a name I, as a black woman, would be comfortable of being called. The word ebony means black, which is a pretty stupid label to put on black women. Not all black women are dark-skinned and some aren’t even near the complexion of black. Secondly, saying Ebony meaning “black” emphasizes the skin tone of the individual. That’s fetishizing. Black women aren’t ebonies, they’re black women. People don’t call whites or Asians “ivory”, just mostly pale or fair. BBWs are beautiful, but mostly in porn they’re fetishized. Many people often associated BBWs as “curvy” or “voluptuous”. Not to say they aren’t, but that label doesn’t fit them since being “curvy” is defined as having either an hourglass figure, sometimes pear. Which means, that “curvy” women waists are supposedly small. Let’s just stick with what plus-size women since curvy only ever fetishizes them more.

MILFs: We all know the “step-son” in the porn isn’t a step-son. He’s just an actor in porn that he wants to live out his “taboo” fantasies. This is fairly the worst in my opinion. This is the most unrealistic, but not the worst one of expectations from women since, not every woman you see will be your step-mother-

In conclusion: Women don’t have much for them and are often shamed for their desires or fetishized. Female-oriented games should be for females.

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 17

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “Man or woman, a sick mind is capable of anything.” Number 17 is…Harley & Ivy.

There are many episodes in B:TAS that can be considered “landmark moments,” not just for the show, but for the lore and history of Batman – in general – moving forward and into the present day. Characters and stories that were so well-conceived, and so incredibly interesting, that later writers, artists, and creators in general would find them to be fountains of inspiration, and which fans still adore to this day. “Harley & Ivy” is one of those landmarks. It not only expanded on the character of Harley Quinn – thus further ensuring her long-lasting legacy as a character – but also on the much older character of Poison Ivy, and provided perhaps one of the most popular supervillain duos in the history of fiction.

Once again, Batman is sort of a secondary player in things for this outing. The focus of the story, really, is on three of his greatest villains: Harley, Ivy, and his arch-nemesis, the Joker. The plot begins when Joker, angry at Harley after a botched robbery, kicks her out of the gang. It’s indicated this isn’t the first time this has happened, and Harley – fed up with the Clown Prince’s ego (despite still having feelings for him) – decides to try and show him up by pulling off a few crimes on her own. Her schemes cause her to come in contact with Poison Ivy, and the two decide to team-up, as Ivy seeks to drill some more backbone and independence into her new partner-in-crime. When their crimes lead to them upstaging the Harlequin of Hate, however, Joker is quick to try and get some revenge. Out to stop all three villains, Batman is dragged into the mess, as usual. This episode really solidified the relationship between Harley and the Joker. In earlier stories, they’d actually gotten along rather well, but this is the first story where we see the unhealthy, dangerous side of their relationship. Over time, writers and creators have gone back and forth on how toxic or how surprisingly touching the relationship should be, but this was the status quo with the original Animated Series version of Harley moving forward: the Joker is awful to Harley, an abusive creep of the highest order…yet he also can’t be without her a lot of the time, for one reason or another. Harley, meanwhile, is hopelessly devoted to the Ace of Knaves, but at times she’ll show a surprising amount of gumption, whenever the Joker does something she REALLY doesn’t agree with.

Of course, the real major relationship here is Harley and Ivy themselves, and in this first outing, it’s nailed perfectly. In the original show, the pair are essentially best friends, and were described as having a sisterly sort of bond. Later reinventions – as well as numerous fanworks – would go further, making the two into love interests; arguably the most popular lesbian couple in the history of superhero fiction. While you COULD argue there are hints of that in their interactions in this episode, and throughout the Animated Series as a whole, I don’t necessarily feel like they were intentional…but regardless of how you look at them – as lovers, sisters in bond, or simply very good friends – watching these two bounce off one another is just as great as seeing Harley and the Joker together. Sometimes even more so! For Poison Ivy, I would argue, it’s ESPECIALLY interesting, because she’s so often depicted as a lone mama wolf, so to speak; a highly independent character who shows little to no empathy for most other human beings. Yet for some reason, you can tell Ivy actually does legitimately care about Harley, even as early as this first appearance. Seeing Harley’s bubbly, childish, manic personality rebound off of Ivy’s more serious, sarcastic, sardonic attitude creates a lot of comedic and dramatic tension. It’s the Animated Series that really made me fall in love with Ivy as a character, and I think a big part of that DID come from her interactions with Harley. Out of all the other characters Harley has been paired up with besides the Joker in times since – from Deadshot, to Killer Croc, to Lobo, and so on – something about Harley & Ivy’s particular partnership remains arguably the strongest of all. It all started with this episode, and anyone who loves these characters owes it to themselves to check it out, if they haven’t already.

Tomorrow we move on to the halfway point of the countdown, with Number 16! Hint: “Fear’s a prison, you see, and I’ve just broken out!”

[apoptoses]

Omg please don’t apologize for your answer to my genderbent ask!! I’ll admit that as a fellow butch it is really getting to me like…you get it. 

I also don’t really interact with a lot of lesbian media because it’s so sterilized. So often it seems that whoever wrote it was like sure we can have two women hold hands or peck on the lips as long as they’re feminine! As long as they don’t come off as *that* kind of lesbian. Butchness and lesbian masculinity are so often treated as dirty or not taken seriously which is really hurtful! 

And I completely agree that a lot of genderswaps rely so much on hyperfeminity. Slap a pair of boobs on a male character and give him long hair and make up and a feminine name like dude that’s a whole other character now 😭 (and I have to say that I hate it when characters are given silly versions of their names just to make it girlier like c’mon women with masculine/traditionally men names are hot!!)

Maybe it’s just me being butch4butch and projecting but butch!Daniel hits so hard for me like she is literally just canon Daniel to me but afab and how that would change her narrative. I oscillate so often on how I think Armand would be particularly because of his relationship with gender in the books. He’s androgynous but is that just because he didn’t fully mature? I feel like a lot of women are done growing by their late teens so would genderbent Armand be taller or have a different build because of that? It’s so fun to think about and I think she would play a lot with presentation in the 80s and be having gender talks along with the philosophical discussions with Daniel in that era.

Long story short I really love the gender aspect of genderswaps and masc women are so hot and like that is the appeal for me especially since we don’t get a lot of that! I really hope that it doesn’t seem like I’m talking over you or like pressuring you to write anything but I really connected with your response and if it’s something that you’re comfortable with I would really love to hear the angles that you’re thinking of!! <3

No you're not talking over at all! I was so verklempt by someone actually getting it that it took me a minute to answer lol

But exactly, either everything is sanitized ('aw lesbians love picnics and frogs and holding hands in their cottage core dresses!!') or the hyper femininity fetishized. Like I said in my tags, taking a cis man and making him a cis man who doesn't conform to gender stereotypes is no less of a gender swap. But like...society doesn't acknowledge butch/masc/studs, much less acknowledge that we can be attractive.

And YEAH like Daniel did so much solo travel, so much entering of spaces that might not be totally safe for a femme woman alone in the 70s so presenting more masc might be a safety net in a way. And like imagine Armand hearing this soft woman's voice on the tapes when entering Lestat's house but turning the corner and seeing someone like this-

Like!!! Wow!!! Or even with an androgynous masculine shag like-

And when Louis and Armand were together there's a big question of how much they were out in the world vs how Louis' grief kept them from fully entering and enjoying mortal spaces. So like Armand seeing women playing more with gender via clothing, the evolution of pants becoming acceptable for women to wear- would Armand have already embraced that, or by meeting Daniel would she feel free to play around with androgyny and masculine fashion more? I like to think it would be the latter, because their time together was such a period of exploration!

And you can also get into concept of being Other, with Daniel able to relate some way to Armand being othered as a vampire where she is othered as a gnc woman. There's just a lot to play with imo

So thank you SO SO MUCH for this message, it really felt good for me to read ♥ Lately I've had so much anguish over the way I am/attractiveness/getting people to respect boundaries, so it's nice to know someone out there gets it.

[forabeatofadrum]

Ljubili se (4/21)

Notes: Guess who's back, back again? It's me! And I come bringing a title!

Okay, two things: First, it's taking longer than I expected to write this story for several reasons. If you follow this blog, you might've read about them. I am still very excited to write this story, though. So I definitely plan on finishing it... one day. Second, I have a title! I decided to just look up the lyrics from the one Slovene song I know with English translation, but I wasn't sure if Ljubili se meant "We love each other" or "We made love with each other" and turns out it can be both. I'm going with the "We love each other" approach here. Although it technically means "We loved each other" and "We will love each other" at the same time as well. Slovene grammar is wack. But hey, it's about the love and it fits nicely next to Ljubim te. Thanks safranina on Discord for the Slovene help.

AO3 | S&C

-

PRESENTATION

“Am I gay?”

Kurt’s taken aback by this sudden question. He just wanted to chat with his boyfriend before he’d meet his parents in the city, but Blaine has other ideas.

“Good morning to you too, Blaine,” he says, “Are you?”

“I was asking you!”

“Uh, only you know the answer to that.”

“I think I am.”

“Well, good.”

“Alright.”

Kurt waits for a follow up, but it remains silent on the other side of the line, so he carefully asks what had led to this question.

“Quinn doesn’t know whether she’s a lesbian.”

“Okay.”

Another beat of silence.

“Well. That’s it.”

“Oh.”

“Or, well, actually… it made me think, because how does all of this work? How do I know I’m gay, cause I told Quinn she doesn’t have to know, but then why do I?”

“Well-”

“And I know you’re right and it’s all up to me and I even said something similar to Quinn and I agree with it, but this is also all so confusing and weird cause the two of us genuinely thought we were totally straight half a year ago so how is it possible that I do know these things and she doesn’t, so do I even know anything or am I rushing into this, or maybe not, because Quinn said that all that matters to her is that she loves Denise and I get that because at the end of the day I know for sure I am madly in love with you, so there is no doubt that I am not straight, but then what gives that I also don’t have doubt that I am gay but she apparently has and should I even care because in the end I am happy with myself, but she seemed upset when I assumed she’s a lesbian, so I feel really bad about everything and now I have the feeling I have done something wrong in my journey because shouldn’t I be more confused like Quinn, because this all came out of nowhere for me as well.” 

Kurt needs a moment to process this and Blaine also sounds a bit out of breath.

“Good morning to you,” Kurt says again, “Did you mull over this all night?”

Blaine makes an affirming hum.

“Quinn just left for work, since she needs to give an important presentation, so I now can talk to you. We were planning on figuring stuff out with the apartment and then I ruined it.”

“You didn’t ruin it, I’m certain of it,” Kurt says back.

“I miss Ljubljana. Everything made sense there,” Blaine exclaims.

Kurt understands what Blaine means. Back then, he didn’t feel to need to think about these things. Kurt didn’t either. They were so caught up in just being together and the future could wait.

“… I just wish you were here right now,” Blaine eventually says and the feeling is mutual.

“You’ll be here soon,” Kurt reassures him.

“Only for a week,” Blaine laments and Kurt sighs.

It doesn’t have to be this way, he knows that. The downside of coming back to New York in August is that there’s a short time of his free period left. In September, it’s time to study again, but it will also mean that his advisors will be on the campus and then Kurt can discuss his plans about LA.

Now that Blaine sounds so upset that they’re apart, Kurt almost wants to admit what he’s planning, but he also doesn’t want to get Blaine’s hopes up.

--

Kurt walks out of his room and he’s greeted by the sight of his roommates. He hasn’t had the time to catch up with them, even though they’re relatively close, but everyone’s been busy. Kurt’s also on his way out now, since his dad and Carole are already at Time’s Square.

“Out again?” Rachel asks.

“Yup, sorry.”

“No worries,” Rachel says, “If my dads would be in town, I’d also spent all my time with them.”

“Although yesterday you said you needed to call someone?” Santana says with a smirk, “Who is he?”

“Har, har, I wish it was a someone,” Kurt says, aiming for a joking tone. No one knows he’s dating anyone. He and Blaine should discuss what to tell Kurt’s roommates, since he’ll be staying with Kurt for his visit, but Blaine has other things on his mind.

“Don’t tease, Santana,” Rachel scorns, “Maybe he also needs to work on his future!”

Santana rolls her eyes in an exaggerated way.

“Future?” Kurt prompts.

“Oh, it’s wonderful, Kurt!” Rachel gushes, “While you were gone, I got an agent! I’ve been auditioning left and right and I might’ve gotten something.”

“Congrats!” Kurt says, genuinely impressed. He had no idea, but well, he and Rachel were both busy with their lives.

Rachel nods proudly.

“That’s why I also haven’t been home a lot. At least I have a better excuse than Santana.”

“Pardon me?” Santana raises an eyebrow, “I don’t prioritise my career over my love life.”

“Right,” Kurt cuts in, because he can see that Rachel wants to say something. He has the feeling the two of them have had a similar conversation in the past few weeks. “How’s Brittany?”

An uncomfortable silence follows. What is it with uncomfortable silences this day?

“Kurt, Brittany and I broke up,” Santana says quietly and Kurt’s eyes widen, “And I got a new girlfriend.”

“… Woah.” ‘Woah’ is an understatement. This is something Kurt did not see coming. Brittany and Santana are (were?) heads over heels into each other. “What happened?”

“So, the person who subleased your room?” Santana starts and Kurt nods.

“Dani?”

He’s met her briefly before he moved to Ljubljana.

“Yeah, she’s my new girlfriend.”

Kurt wants to say more, but then his dad calls, probably asking where he is. His phone call with Blaine took longer than expected, then this happened, so of course he’s late.

Santana sees that Kurt’s phone’s screen is lighting up.

“Sorry.”

Santana shrugs.

“It’s fine, but I’ll be at Dani’s tonight.”

--

By the time Kurt arrives at Time’s Square, he already feels like most of the day passed, but it’s not true.

“You are a sight for sore eyes, kid,” his dad says. He holds out a cup of coffee and Kurt’s forever grateful.

“I feel weird,” Kurt says.

“Oh, dear, are you not well?” Carole asks, sounding concerned.

Kurt shakes his head.

“No. Just weird. I’ve only been back for a short period of time, and on one hand, nothing’s changed,” he sighs. It’s true. It’s almost weird how easily he’s fallen back into this life here in New York, as if all those months in Slovenia just happened like it was nothing. “But my life is mostly the same. For others, things have changed and I notice.”

Kurt quickly explains how Rachel’s advanced in her career and how Santana has a new girlfriend. And these are only two people. There are many more people who he needs to catch up with. He’s just prioritising his family now, which is understandable, but that means he has many more people to see later.

“Look, you were on the other side of the world, Kurt,” his dad puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, “Of course, things continue on this side as well. But the people here saw these changes gradually, for you it’s gone from zero to nothing.”

But maybe Kurt should’ve kept more in touch with the people here. He was so caught up in just being away from everything and experiencing something new, that he forgot about his life here.

It’s what Blaine said on the phone. Ljubljana feels like an alternative world, but now they’re brought back to reality.